Football: SeyPearl Premier League |12 December 2020

Foresters skipper Ryan (right) scored his fourth goal in three games

Foresters share spoils with Red Star Defence Forces

SeyPearl Premier League champions Foresters were held to a 1-1 draw by Red Star Defence Forces at Stad Linite on Thursday afternoon in an interesting league encounter.

This fixture always has some spice to it due to the connection between coach Harold Hoareau and quite a number of players on the current Foresters team after they moved away from the army team last season and this clash was no exception with a lot of pride at stake.

The players of coach Gavin Jeanne almost broke the deadlock in the 2nd minute as Malagasy Jocelyn Fenosoa slipped a pass to Daniel Maillet whose near post cross should have been tucked home by Barry Marie but he missed the ball which the Foresters goalkeeper Kitson Cecile gratefully smothered.

Foresters went ahead in their first attack as Jean-Yves Ernesta rode a strong tackle with referee Bernard Camille quite rightly playing the advantage to allow the ball to roll to Kenner Nourrice who had a good chance to shoot but he laid the ball to captain-for-the-day Ryan Henriette who eluded his marker to tuck the ball past goalkeeper Raphael Moustache to make it 1-0 for his fourth goal in three league matches.

Red Star Defence Forces were level on score in the 11th minute rather controversially when Jocelyn’s free kick came off Malagasy defender Leonard Besabotsy in the Foresters penalty area and Marie pounced on the loose ball to shoot at goal but the ball came off Elijah Lespoir who had turned his back to block the ball and the ball appeared to hit him on the arm which was enough to convince referee Bernard Camille to point to the penalty spot which was rather harsh and was contested by the Foresters players.

Jocelyn stepped up to take the spot kick which was stopped by goalkeeper Kitson Cecile but the Red Star Defence Forces striker was quick to latch onto the loose ball to stab it home for his third goal in three matches for a 1-1 score.

The official was again at the centre of controversy in the 17th minute from Lespoir’s free kick which fell in the army team’s penalty box and Malagasy Noelson Jeannot’s attempted clearance came off the arm of his defensive partner Ahmed Maurice and Foresters appealed for a penalty but referee Camille was not convinced, much to the annoyance of the Foresters players and coach.

In the 23rd minute, Foresters were again hard done by the official when Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri raced forward to collect Besabotsy’s long ball over the Red Star Defence Forces’ backline but the Nigerian forward was held back by defender Maurice who was caught flat footed and referee Camille only awarded a free kick and no booking which was very lenient.

The eastern Mahé-based club though were denied a second goal in the 28th minute from another free kick specialist Jocelyn’s dipping set piece which produced a fantastic one-handed save by goalkeeper Kitson Cecile to leave the score at 1-1 at half-time.

Foresters brought on more firepower in the second period with Leroy Corallie and Brandon Labrosse replacing Nourrice and Ernesta, but it was Red Star Defence Forces who made the brighter start with Jocelyn once again forcing a top class save out of the Foresters custodian in the 55th minute from a curling free kick on the edge of the penalty area.

This half was end-to-end stuff as both teams pushed forward and Red Star Defence Forces should have gone ahead in the 73rd minute from a beautifully floated ball by Rashim Padayachy to substitute Laurent Vel who had sneaked in behind the Foresters defence and he rose well but placed his free header over the crossbar.

Foresters grew stronger in the latter stages and in a mêlée in the 88th minute, Corallie fired at goal but the shot was blocked as far as Labrosse whose half volley was pushed onto the crossbar and into corner by goalkeeper Moustache as the two teams shared the points in a closely fought match though the league champions coach Hoareau felt his team never got going in this match which he was keen to win.

“We surely could have done better if we had played to our expected level as we wanted to win all three points but have to be satisfied with a point,” the Foresters coach told Sports NATION as they dropped their first points in the defence of their league crown.

R. J-L.